Which teaching approach is “talk-for-learning” and how?

“The talk-for-learning approach is a host of techniques and strategies for encouraging all learners to talk, manage and structure their contributions in lessons.”-Professional Learning Community (PLC) Handbook, Teacher Version, on SHS/SHTS/STEM Curriculum (n.d.a).

One of the fundamental functions of a teacher or facilitator is to identify and manage the entry competencies of all learners and to devise appropriate strategies and techniques in guiding, supporting learners through well-coordinated and refined interactions for learning to occur.

To get learners or students to attain optimum learning outcomes and to perform well in life, the contributions of all individuals and stakeholders, including the teacher, remain important. The teacher, as a leading personality, ought to be knowledgeable in the content of lesson to deliver and apt in choosing from the gamut of useful pedagogical skills to apply to influence learning.

Depending on the situation at hand (including the kinds of instructional resources available), nature of learners to support in learning and the type of lessons to deliver, the teacher can adopt a strategy or have a mix of strategies such as talk-for-learning, activity ball, concept cartoons, gallery walk, ordering cards, pyramid discussions, think-pair-share, mind mapping, fish-bone strategy, among other strategies, to guide learners through useful learning experiences (Professional Learning Community Handbook on SHS/SHTS/STEM Curriculum, n.d.a).

What makes the teacher a professional is the use of a variety of instructional strategies such as dialogues, questioning, collaborative learning, demonstrations, explanations, experimentations, and project-based learning approaches in influencing learning. Other strategies like the use of peer-teaching approach, field trips, games, role plays, music or songs, storytelling or narratives, and digital learning are readily available for use in encouraging learner participation and in promoting critical thinking (National Teachers’ Standards for Ghana Guidelines, 2017, page 27).

Now, to the “talk-for-learning” approach and how? “Talk-for-learning” is needed as classrooms and other learning spaces, including laboratories, fields (e.g., school farms/gardens), seminars/conferences and homes, have learners and individuals with heterogenous backgrounds, learning needs and aspirations. The ever-changing nature and intricacies of the world demand that classrooms and other learning spaces are made practically democratic, flexibleand engaging.

There ought to beabsolute, well-facilitated demonstrations of freedom of expressions of knowledge and abilities of all learners. The teacher should not be at the learning space as a give-and-take dispenser of knowledge, lessonsto students,but as a partaker in learning sessions with students hence the saying, “I am a learner, you are a learner; we are all learners”. Both the teacher (also referred to as learning-space facilitator) and students are co-learners in the learning space, and theteaching method being used ought to show that both of them are truly learning together.

The hinge on which the “talk-for-learning” approach can be made to spin is the teacher’s level of resourcefulness and skillfulness. Resourcefulness is on the teacher’s command in the subject area (i.e., content knowledge) and skillfulness is about the teacher’s stock of pedagogical knowledge.

“Talk-for-learning” is a learner-centred, participatory learning approach, which allows for questioning, discussions and debates among learners facilitated by the teacher to elicit diverse views, ideas and knowledge from learners. The teacher pays attention to learners and encourages themto do same to all others in the learning space, irrespective of gender, physical and intellectual abilities,and economic background, especially during contributions at learning sessions (Professional Learning Committee Handbook on SHS/SHTS/STEM Curriculum, n.d.a.).

Whether quiet or extroverted, intelligent or not intelligent, able bodied or disabled, rich or poor, or of rural or urban background, the teacher ought to create a safe, encouraging environment for all learners to contribute to lessons. The teacher has to be warm, friendly and fair, and should not be mean in praising and encouraging learners. To promote “talk-for-learning”, the teacher avoids corporal punishment or actions and comments liable of disgracing learners or hurting their emotions.

The teacher ensures that learning is made fun and enticing to learners to contribute. Learners ought to be supported to smile and to laugh while they learn. The teacher, for example, could ask learners to talk about some crops or farm animals that they ever helped or have been helping their parents, relativesto produce at home or have seen their relatives produce, and as they individually share their experiences, other learners in the learning space listen so to learn.

It is not only in schools that the use of “talk-for-learning” approach is encouraged. Parents ought to appreciate or be supported to come to terms with how children have becomemore explorative (i.e., what they know and desire to know in their fields of study or beyond) so to design a “talk-for-learning” approach to complement the teacher’s effort in raising children for life.Effective use of “talk-for-learning” improveslearners’ communication skills and boosts their confidence.

By Anthony Kwaku Amoah (MPhil)

E-mail: [email protected]

The writer is an educationist, trained counsellor in the Ghana Education Service and a visiting lecturer of the College for Distance and e-Learning of University of Education,Winneba.

Editor’s note: Views expressed in this article do not represent that of The Chronicle

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